The contrast between the playful ebullience of Max Verstappen and Red Bull and Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes’ resigned weariness after the final qualifying session of 2023 could not have better summed up their seasons.
With Verstappen on pole for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix – taking his tally this year to 12 – and Hamilton adrift in 11th place, this was their respective fortunes writ large. After 22 race qualifying sessions Red Bull, even when apparently struggling, were on top when it mattered. Hamilton, meanwhile, was left baffled as to how, after all this time, his car remained so resolutely mercurial and unpredictable a beast he and the team clearly cannot wait to see the back of .
Red Bull had struggled all weekend with Verstappen’s car to find the right balance and set-up in practice at Yas Marina. Indeed, after practice three they were seven-tenths off the pace.
So ill at ease had they looked that on Verstappen’s in-lap the team principal, Christian Horner, told his driver the pole had won him €500 (£430) after the team’s head of motorsport, Helmut Marko, had wagered post-FP3 that Verstappen would be unable even to make the front row. Yet once again in Verstappen’s hands the car was indomitable at the sharp end of a competitive session.
“I think Helmut learned his lesson, never bet against me,” said a laughing Verstappen. A lesson his rivals have learned with crushing regularity this season.
With a superb run in Q3, he beat the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc into second by just over a tenth of a second and the McLaren of Oscar Piastri into third. Leclerc had delivered a mighty lap and left nothing on the table, hurling his car through the corners of the track but was still left clutching at straws.
As Red Bull frolicked, Mercedes could only fume. Hamilton struggled to control the rear of a car that was lacking balance and he went out in Q2 for the second race in succession. As evidence of just how perverse a piece of machinery it can be, his teammate, Russell, managed to claim fourth.
Asked his feelings knowing this was the last time he would have to qualify in this car, Hamilton was unequivocal. “I am definitely happy that it’s nearly over,” he said. “It is inconsistent, up and down, it’s massively out of balance and hard to predict what is going to happen.”
He looked drained and exasperated as he spoke and understandably so. He might have said the same thing about it at the very first race of the season.
With Mercedes bringing an entirely different design philosophy to their car next season the team principal, Toto Wolff, was also blunt in looking forward to bidding farewell to the W14. “I am happy that was the last qualifying of the season and we are going to come with a new car,” he said, with a similarly hang-dog air as Hamilton.
Nor was this the result the team wanted in their fight for second in the constructors’ championship with Ferrari that remains very finely balanced and worth as much as £10m more in prize money to whoever secures the runners-up spot behind Red Bull. Mercedes have a slight upper hand, leading Ferrari by four points, but neither side holds a definitive advantage after qualifying.
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Ferrari had suffered a blow to their hopes early when Carlos Sainz could manage only 16th, knocked out in Q1 when he encountered traffic. With Hamilton 11th, Russell fourth and Leclerc second the spread is almost even across the grid, a potential battle royale in store as doubtless Verstappen scampers off to conclude his season with a 19th win.
It will be an extension of his season record if he does so and a 54th career victory would take him past Sebastian Vettel’s tally. The Dutchman will then take his place with the third-highest number of wins behind Lewis Hamilton and Michael Schumacher. No one, and most certainly not Marko, will be betting against it.
Red Bull’s Sergio Pérez was fifth on his final hot lap but had the time deleted for exceeding track limits and finished ninth. Lando Norris was fifth for McLaren, Yuki Tsunoda sixth for AlphaTauri, Fernando Alonso seventh for Aston Martin, Nico Hülkenberg eighth for Haas and Pierre Gasly tenth for Alpine.
Esteban Ocon was 12th for Alpine, Lance Stroll 13th for Aston Martin, Alex Albon 14th for Williams and Daniel Ricciardo 15th for AlphaTauri. Kevin Magnussen was 17th for Haas, Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu 18th and 19th for Alfa Romeo and Logan Sargeant 20th for Williams.
